Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Guide to the Maceo Jefferson Papers

Summary

Collection ID:
NMAH.AC.1370
Creators:
Jefferson, Yvonne Runtz
Jefferson, Maceo
Cargill, Thomas
Cargill, Darlene Johnson
Dates:
1800s-1974
Languages:
Collection is in
English
. Some materials in
French
.
Physical Description:
8 Cubic feet
26 boxes
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The collection documents the life and career of jazz musician, arranger, songwriter, and bandleader Maceo Jefferson. It includes biographical documents such as birth and marriaige certificates and passports; letters, mostly relating to the music business and including carbon copies of letters sent by Jefferson; photographs, many inscribed, including photographs of performers from the early jazz era; a hymnal used by Jefferson; several pieces of published sheet music written by Jefferson; concert programs, including a hand-made one for a concert given inside a Nazi internment camp where Jefferson was detained for two years; lyrics to songs; some business records, many in French; legal records; recordings, including 78 rpm records; and music manuscripts, which comprise roughly three fourths of the collection. Additionally, Jefferson's wife, Yvonne Runtz Jefferson, was a costume designer, and there are photographs relating to her work in the collection.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The collection is arranged into seven series.
Series 1: Personal Papers, 1891-1978, undated
Series 2: Correspondence, 1909-1976, undated
Series 3: Business Records and Performance Materials, 1932-1971, undated
Series 4: Legal Records, 1920s-1970s, undated
Series 5: Music Manuscripts, Published Sheet Music, and Folios, 1891-1972, undated
Subseries 5.1: Jefferson Compositions, 1920-1972, undated
Subseries 5.2: Compositions by Other Composers, 1921-1971, undated
Subseries 5.3: Sheet Music, 1891-1970, undated
Subseries 5.4: Folios, Songbooks and Instruction, 1870s-1950s
Series 6: Photographs, 1800s-1960s
Series 7: Recordings, undated

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Maceo Buchannan Jefferson was born on July 14, 1898 in Beaufort, South Carolina to Reverend Paul William Jefferson and Julia Rose Singleton. The oldest of five children, Jefferson showed an early aptitude for both banjo and guitar. He enlisted in the Navy on April 6, 1917 and was released from service on December 24, 1919. According to the 1920 census, Jefferson lived in Portsmouth Monroe Ward, Portsmouth, Virginia as a laborer with the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. During this time, he played with Gus Perry at the Limelight's Nightclub. Jefferson then moved to Norfolk, Virginia for two years before moving to Washington, DC. As noted in his resume, while in the District of Columbia Jeffersone, he performed with the J. R. Branson Orchestra in a dance hall on U Street and the Roscoe Lee Orchestra at the Better Old Club. He married Riccolin E. Sutherland on October 21, 1922. Jefferson spent another two years in a nightclub in Washington, where he met Duke Ellington and joined his band, the Washingtonians. By early 1923, Jefferson had joined Wilber Sweatman, and worked in a succession of nightclubs and theaters in New York, Brooklyn, and New Jersey. He also accompanied singer Ethel Waters on a recording session for Columbia Records. In 1926, he joined the Lew Leslie Blackbirds Plantation Orchestra and went on a European tour in 1927 with the band and singer Florence Mills. Jefferson joined Leon Abbey's band in 1928, and eventually relocated to Paris, France. During this time, he performed with several jazz bands and musicians including Louis Armstrong before returning to New York where he played in Willie "The Lion" Smith's band and toured with W. C. Handy. The late 1930s and 1940s found him back in France where he married a Parisian woman, Yvonne Josephine Stephanie Runtz, in 1937. Jefferson toured with different bands in France, England, Scotland, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, and Italy until the end of May 1940. In June, he drove a truck for the American Hospital of Paris to the base hospital of Angouleme for which he received no salary. From August to November, Jefferson worked for the American Red Cross as a driver transporting the sick and, injured, and distributing medicine and food. Jefferson resumed his musical career arranging, composing, copying, and playing music from December 1940-December 1941. His career took a dramatic turn when the Nazis, under the Vichy government, imprisoned him, three days after the United States declared war on Germany. Jefferson spent twenty-seven months in prison camp stalag 122 in Compiegne, France and while imprisoned led an orchestra. In 1944, the Nazis released and sent Jefferson back to the United States where he lived in New York before relocating to Bridgeport, Connecticut. In the latter part of his life and musical career, he focused on composition and developing new arrangements for old songs. He never fully regained his health after his time in the concentration camp. Jefferson died on June 15, 1974 in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Administration

Author
Vanessa Broussard-Simmons and Cathy Keen
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated to the Archives Center in 2015 by Jefferson's grand-nephew Thomas Cargill and his wife Darlene Johnson Cargill.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Jack Barral, intern, 2019; Lauren Finkle, intern, 2019; Caroline Kleiner, intern, 2019; Abigail Phelps, intern, 2019; Erin Wiebe intern, 2019; and Vanessa Broussard- Simmons, archivist, 2019.

Digital Content

More …

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Preferred Citation
Maceo Jefferson Papers, 1898-1974, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Conditions Governing Use
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Related Materials
Materials in the Archives Center
Duke Ellington Collection (AC0301)
Duncan Schiedt Jazz Collection (AC1323)
W. C. Handy Collection (AC0132)
Gottlieb and Bodansky Family Papers (AC1245)

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Hymnals Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Programs -- Concerts -- 20th century Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Correspondence -- 20th century Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
World War, 1939-1945 Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Music -- 20th century Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Legal records -- 20th century Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Concentration camps -- France Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Marriage certificates Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Composers Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Jazz musicians Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Banjoists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Business records -- 20th century Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
78 rpm records Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Passports Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sheet music -- 20th century Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Music -- Manuscripts Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- 20th century Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Composers -- 20th century Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Contracts -- 20th century Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Clippings -- 20th century Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Birth certificates Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Washingtonians, The. Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Archives Center, National Museum of American History
P.O. Box 37012
Suite 1100, MRC 601
Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
archivescenter@si.edu